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When Shina Park went to Peru, she had three things in mind: build relationships, hone Spanish-speaking skills, and immerse herself in a foreign culture. In short, she said, she traveled to get lost.

But several weeks after her arrival, she said, I felt genuinely lost and disconnected from all things familiar. The transportation system bewildered me, I couldn’t extend beyond small talk with my host father, and I was shivering in my bed at night. It took me a while to figure out the kombi routes and to muster up the courage to ask for more blankets at night. How was I confronting my fears and embracing discomfort? I wasn’t, really.

But then I looked up, observed my surroundings, and took photographs of what I saw. During this process, I forgot about my anxieties. I no longer cared for them. To have been consumed by my anxieties would’ve been my loss, as I would’ve missed Peru. Although the following photographs do not wholly encapsulate Peru, they are few glimpses of what I’ve discovered there.

Cusco, a gem in the Peruvian Andes.Machu Picchu, the once-royal estate of the Inca nobility.Inca Drawbridge, at Machu Picchu.Cataratas Tirol, a 30-meter waterfall in the Chanchamayo Valley. Besides the production of coffee and fruits, the Chanchamayo Valley is known for its magnificent waterfalls, butterfly varieties and local indigenous tribes.Laura at the entrance of Cataratas Tirol. Laura and I lived together during our service period in San Ramón, a district of the Chanchamayo province in the Junín Region. Perhaps our mutual wanderlust and coffee fanaticism brought us together at Peru’s ‘selva central’ (central jungle). But this is certain—that without Laura, Peru wouldn’t have been what it was, is, and will be to me.A bakery in downtown San Ramón that Laura and I frequented—that is, almost weekly—for a bite of “Tres Leches.”Laura and I visited Tío Carlos’s coffee farm in La Merced, the capital of the Chanchamayo province, to learn about coffee production. As the photo suggests, many farmers intercrop plantain with coffee, as the plantain trees provide shade to the coffee trees and thus enhance the quality of the coffee.A Grupo Niche concert Laura and I attended with the family in La Merced.Catarata Bayoz, a waterfall in close proximity to the ‘Velo de Novia’ waterfall, in Perene, Chanchamayo province.Kawai, our SST group retreat location on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Mala, Peru.

Shina Park is a 2015 graduate of Goshen College and went to the Peru in the fall of 2014.

With thanks to Micah Miller-Eshleman, the GC Communications and Marketing Office and the International Education Office.

Goshen College is an affordable, nationally-recognized Christian liberal arts college in Northern Indiana known for leadership in intercultural and international education, sustainability and social justice. Visit goshen.edu.

About Study-Service Term (SST)

Since 1968, more than 7,700 students have lived, learned and served in 24 countries worldwide in Goshen College's nationally-recognized, semester-long study abroad program, which about 80 percent of students participate in. The program emphasizes service to a local community — and total cultural immersion in a developing country. Students live with local families and experience day-to-day life in the most personal way possible.